Semi-rigidity of cap plate and extended end plate connections

Abstract

The behaviour of steel frames is highly influenced by the beam-column connections. Traditionally, Steel frames were usually designed assuming that connections are ideally pinned or fully rigid. A semi-rigid connection, however, creates a balance between the two extreme approaches mentioned above. In this research, two full scales of Extended End Plate Connections (EEPCs) were tested. Mathematical and numerical models were used to analyse the connections, and close correlations were found between these models and the corresponding tested specimens, which confirmed the confidence in the experimental results. The experimental results obtained enrich the available test data about behaviour of EEPC. In addition, the purpose of studying EEPC experimentally is to compare the stiffness and moment-rotation curve of EEPCs with that of Cap Plate Connections (CPCs), which were tested in a previous work. CPCs have not been studied sufficiently in the literature. The results obtained show that the typical CPC reduces the connection stiffness and these results will make a valuable contribution to the available test data in the research area of CPC.